Versatility and mobility in medical devices, particularly in medical devices to be used internally of a patient, are important, and can be especially important in minimally invasive surgical procedures. Minimally invasive surgical procedures are typically conducted through small ports, in contrast to the larger incisions typical of open surgery, and they are desirable because such procedures can reduce pain and provide relatively quick recovery times as compared with conventional open medical procedures. There are various terms used to describe minimally invasive procedures, including endoscopic, laparoscopic, thoracoscopic, and the like. The term endoscopic is used herein to generally refer to these various procedures.
Typical state of the art endoscopic procedures demand new families of instruments, and a variety of custom-designed instruments have been created for such procedures. Their common feature has been the ability to be passed through the cannula of a trocar, or other small opening into the body, or through a natural orifice of the body, such as through a working channel of an endoscope disposed within a body lumen. One drawback to current procedures, however, is that they often require the use of multiple tools having different types of end effectors. Each tool has to be individually passed into the body, manipulated to perform a procedure, and then removed to allow a second tool to be introduced. As a result, the time required for a surgeon to perform the procedure as well as the costs of the procedure are significantly increased.
Accordingly, there remains a need for methods and devices for performing surgical procedures using interchangeable end effectors, and in particular using end effectors that can be selectively interchanged within the body.